Ok, my friends.  I have to share this picture of the swimming pool cake I made for Sweetie’s birthday.  It was so much fun to make this cake – and easier than I thought it would be!  Sweetie helped with decorating it.  She was so excited to decorate that when we came home she took off her shoes and rushed right over to the kitchen – forgetting to put away her shoes.

We had a blast taking Sweetie and Buddy bowling – along with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncles.  We had dinner at Red Robin along with Auntie and her Husband.  Then they all came over to have some swimming pool cake!  We party-ed and the kids stayed up later than usual.  They were so happy and didn’t want to go to sleep.  Finally went to bed past 11 pm.

It’s such a blessing to have family get together!

Have a sweet Sunday with your family…

Our family is looking forward to seeing snow for the first time in 35 years!

In our area, that is.

The last time the Bay Area had snow, it was 1976.  Can you believe it?  The news anchors are really excited about it as it’ll be a big story.

Our little Buddy is excited as he’s been asking to have a snow ball fight with us.  The funny thing is, we never made it up to the snow this year…

…so it’s neat that the snow is coming to us!

Can’t wait to see the smiles and giggles from Buddy and Sweetie.  I hope and pray we’ll be well enough to go play.  I got the flu yesterday, Buddy caught a cough, Sweetie’s recovering from her cough, and Hubby’s on the verge of catching something from all these germs.

If you think of us, please say a prayer for our health – we don’t want to miss the snow!

After all, it’s only been 35 years

Hope you all have a great weekend!

In my previous post, I mentioned who inspires me is one of my trainers Dani Johnson.  I’ve been to her business training events and they are phenomenal.  This woman mentors from the heart and she boldly professes her Lord and Savior.  I am continually amazed at her capacity to help so many people to get out of their ruts in life.

Dani will be on the Oprah Winfrey Show this Thursday, February 17, 2011.  It will be such a treat to watch her discuss with Oprah the profound impact of her journey when she spent an entire week in one of the country’s poorest areas, assisting and serving those in need.  As I mentioned, this journey will air on ABC’s Secret Millionaire on March 6 at 8 pm/7pm Central.

Here’s the trailer…

I encourage you to watch her, she’s a true inspiration!

Hello my friend, aren’t you glad it’s Friday   Well today I’m happy to introduce Tina “The Book Lady” to you.  I believe in the passion she has for families, reading, and building relationships.  Here she is…

Hi! My name is Tina Peterson and I am also known as The Book Lady to my customers and their kids. My passion is literacy and reading and sharing those passions with others. I have 2 blogs: http://familyliteracyandyou.bl… which is dedicated to encouraging strong family relationships through reading and playing together and giving to others.

Throughout the year, I do literacy booths and homeshows/bookfairs to help schools and families get FREE books and manipulatives for home and classroom. I am in the process of adding the line of SylvanDell Publishing to my bookfairs for preschools & elementary schools & I’m really excited about that as they share/teach math/science concepts through stories.

I also have another blog: http://givingnsharing.blogspot… which focuses on family friendly product reviews and giveaways.

Take a moment to stop by Tina’s blogs and get to know her a bit.  And my friend, have an incredibly blessed weekend!

Today I get the privilege to announce the winner of the Coffee or Brownies January giveaway!

Are you ready?

Drumroll, please…

Out of 59 qualified entries, random.org chooses #26…

Andrea G. – congratulations!  Watch for an email from me

To help you get to know Andrea a little bit better, here’s an introduction:

“Hello! My name is Andrea, have 3 kids with one last one on the way! Four is it! I’m a full time work at home mom who is trying to go to part time after the birth of our fourth. No blog, just a blog reader, giveaway contestant and quite possibly a neurotic mom! LOL! Oh, and peanut butter cup ice-cream is my absolute favorite!”

Hope you had fun with this giveaway, have a GREAT weekend!

Hey there, Happy Friday!

It’s nearing the end of this first month of 2011…

Let’s end it with a blast and embrace the new year with all that it has to offer!  We’re giving away a $10 Starbucks gift card or a box of delicious gourmet brownies to one of you!

The Rules

Required Entry: Leave a comment sharing what you’d like to receive – a $10 Starbucks gift card or a box of gourmet brownies.  And tell me what’s your favorite reason to go to Starbucks?

Optional extra entries: Once you’ve done the required entry, you may do as many of these extra entry options as you’d like!  Leave a separate comment for each entry.

**I’m entering a photo contest to win a ticket to a happenin’ business event in Orlando, FL!  I’m beyond excited…I’d appreciate your help to get me there!  Follow steps 1 and 2 below – 3 entries

1. LIKE the page Real Savvy Success at http://www.facebook.com/realsavvysuccess

2. LIKE my photo at http://on.fb.me/dSF4Z1

• Follow me publicly on Google Friend Connect – 1 entry (leave me a comment saying you now follow or already do)
• Follow my blog on Networked Blogs – 1 entry (leave me a comment saying you now follow or already do)
• Like my Facebook fan page – 1 entry
• Follow me on twitter @jinnialow – 1 entry (leave username)
• Tweet the giveaway using:  Help @jinnialow get to Orlando! Coffee or Brownies Giveaway http://bit.ly/fdC0XX (may be done once daily – 1 entry, leave direct url to tweet)
• Introduce yourself right here, then come back here and leave 2 separate comments – 2 entries

Giveaway Ends on 1/27/11

Winner will be chosen using random.org and announced next Friday, 1/28/11.  Be sure to leave me your email so I can contact you if you win!  You’ll have 48 hours to claim your prize after I email you or another random winner will be chosen using the same method.  Good luck!

And have a wonderful weekend!

This week has been quite an adventure, wouldn’t you say?  Without knowing exactly what you’ve been up to, I can only guess it’s been busy for you as it has been for me.

In the past week, I’ve experienced the sweetness of people…and the sourness.  I’ll focus on remembering the sweetness.

For one, my daughter showed her caring side to one of her friends who just about cried during school.  My daughter was one of the few who stood by her as she cried with her.  That just about made my day to hear about Sweetie being compassionate.

Speaking of sweet, I’m thinking about the brownies or coffee that someone will have fun receiving in the mail soon from me.  I’m happy to be giving away to Charity L. her choice of a $5 Starbucks card or a box of yummy brownies.

Today’s video is Day 16 – A Song That Makes Me Cry

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hey there, it’s been a while since I held a giveaway for you!  After attending a Women in Business luncheon, I was inspired by the keynote speaker, Lori Butterworth who created Jacob’s Heart to provide support to families of children with cancer.  She’s had 3 featured appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show.

And in the spirit of this Christmas season, I want to reach out to children in need of smiles – through you.

So I’m giving away a $5 Starbucks gift card or a box of delicious gourmet brownies to one of you!

The Rules

Required Entry: Go to Make A Child Smile and choose 1 child to send a card to.  Then go to my website and send a card to encourage that child (it’s on me including postage).  Be sure to read the instructions and do’s and don’ts about sending mail to the child.  Leave a comment here sharing the name of the child you sent a card to.

Optional extra entries: (Once you’ve done the required entry, you may do as many of these extra entry options as you’d like!)  Leave a separate comment for each entry.

~Follow me publicly on Google Friend Connect – 1 entry (leave me a comment saying you now follow or already do)

~Subscribe by email (must activate) – 2 entries (leave me 2 separate comments saying you have subscribed or already do)

~Follow my blog on Networked Blogs – 1 entry (leave me a comment saying you now follow or already do)

~Like my Facebook fan page – 1 entry

~Follow me on twitter @jinnialow – 1 entry (leave username)

~Tweet the giveaway – may be done once daily, include @jinnialow – 1 entry (leave direct url to tweet)

~Introduce yourself right here, then come back here and leave 2 separate comments – 2 entries

Giveaway Ends on 12/16/10

Winner will be chosen using random.org and announced next Friday, 12/17/10.  Be sure to leave me your email so I can contact you if you win!  You’ll have 48 hours to claim your prize after I email you or another random winner will be chosen using the same method.  Good luck!

Today’s video is Day 13 – A Fictional Book

Have a wonderful weekend!

I’m so grateful for the recent mental blocks I’ve been having.  That may sound strange but I’ve come to a place of realizing something profound.

I’ve always had a deep desire to make a difference in this world we live in.  That life has meaning and at the end of the day, what we do, the words we say, the kindness we extend, has made a difference in someone else’s life.  That it goes beyond the physical seen objects in our world and has far greater value.

So…my recent mental blocks caused me to step back and dig deep, really dig deep, into the heart and core of who I am.  Why is this important?

Whatever you or I do in our lives, if we’re not inspired, it’s hard to inspire others.  I want to inspire others, but for a time I’d hit a plateau in my business and if I wasn’t inspired myself, how can I inspire others?

This realization hit me hard tonight as I was privileged to listen to this video by Mia Davies:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOHBN_Hn60

Do you feel that what you do in your life is a true expression of your authentic self?

For the next 2 weeks my kids and I don’t have access to our home from 9 am – 4:30 pm.  There’s construction on our front porch that we need to stay away from.  So we’ve been hanging out at Barnes and Nobles after school.

And I got hold of “The Marketing Plan Handbook” by Robert Bly.  In it, an inspiring entrepreneurial story!  I’d like to re-tell it to you…

Once upon a time in the 1950′s, a gentleman did well owning and operating their family restaurant in a small town.  He got news that a new highway was going to be built that would re-route most of the traffic away from the town.  No more customers would stop by their restaurant.  He had to close it down and retire to a social security check of $105 per month.

He decided he wasn’t going to sit in a rocking chair waiting for government checks.  He had an idea, a vision.  He would take his special recipe for chicken and let other restaurant owners use it and for every piece of chicken they sold, he would make 5 cents.

When he got his Social Security check for $105, he and his wife packed their car and traveled across the country from restaurant to restaurant, to sell his idea.  They knocked on doors, cooked batches of chicken for restaurant owners and their employees, and gave their sales pitch.  They even got to eat what they cooked!  And they did it 1009 times.  Sadly each owner said, sorry, this is not for us.

But something miraculous happened on the 1010th time.  The restaurant owner said, I’m not interested in selling chicken.  I’m interested in selling beer.  If you can make the chicken salty enough that people will buy more beer, I’m in.

So he added a secret 12th ingredient to his 11-herb recipe:  salt.  He didn’t actually like the salt in there, but the restaurant owner was sold and bought the idea after tasting this new batch.

And this was Harland Sanders’ dream…

…that eventually became Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I was inspired by Colonel Sanders’ perseverance.  How about you?